Twitch is reportedly considering major changes in the revenue generation practices that streamers are upset about because the potentially skewed percentages are helping Twitch’s bottom line.
According to one Bloomberg report, Amazon, Twitch’s parent company, is considering several changes to its affiliate program to increase its earnings. These changes include a new revenue sharing from subscriptions, a new tier system and empowering ads.
One of the revenue generation changes being considered is a revenue cut from subscriptions to partnered streamers, Twitch’s most popular streamers. The proposed cut will reduce the earnings that partners from streamers receive from subscriptions from 70% to 50%.
Another suggestion that Twitch is considering is to add a leveling system to partnered streamers. According to Bloomberg, these levels describe the criteria a streamer must meet to receive 50% or 70% of revenue from their subscription. In exchange for this proposal told anonymous sources Bloomberg that Twitch may release streamers from their exclusivity in their contracts, which will allow them to stream on Twitch’s competitor sites such as YouTube and Facebook Gaming potentially to get any earnings back.
Twitch is also reportedly considering incentives for more advertising through “revenue-sharing” events, which Bloomberg says will present “a more lucrative model for streamers.”
Twitch streamers have not responded kindly to the news of Twitch’s proposed changes to their partnership program. Twitch streamer PleasantlyTwstd told Kotaku that she’s not surprised that Twitch is exploring these changes. If changes hit the website this summer as they are now, PleasantTwstd said smaller streamers will have “little or no incentive” to expand their channels on the platform.
“Smaller streamers I think will have little or no incentive at this stage to really push for growth,” PleasantTwstd said. “It will start to feel like making a payout, you have to hit more subs, and the fight at the moment is at all to be found.”
PleasantlyTwstd said she would like to see streamers brought into the conversation about Twitch’s changes in revenue generation so that they are advocated “seriously.”
Twitch has been a bit in a holding pattern where their priority is to make the platform more money, but until they actually try to work more closely with the people who make them money or freely create tools, they will just keep throwing ideas. and ‘initiatives’ that fall flat, ”she said.
Left-wing streamer Hasan “Hasanabi” Piker took to Twitter to say that the reason Twitch made these changes was because the company does not see itself as having competition in the livestreaming area, so there is little reason to offer something that is truly compelling to its users.
“[I] love twitch but it seems they are moving away from [content creators] to determine their profits, ” said Girls in a tweet. “Almost all of my revenue comes from subscribers who choose to give me $ 5 a month. Twitch does not consider the 50/50 split it takes from smaller creators in the process to be profitable enough. It’s wild.”
“Subscriptions are more important to any streamer’s life than almost any other utility Twitch offers, and touching the split is destroying and potentially removing thousands of full-time creators from your platform right away.” JERICHO said.
“What a joke. Make it worse for everyone except Twitch itself.” said Jacksepticeye.
“Twitch is insane if they think it’s going to go well,” Max “Gassy Mexican” said Gonzalez. “Like will actually shake the platform in the worst possible way.”
Kotaku contacted Twitch for a comment.
While these proposed changes are reported to hit the website as soon as this summer, anonymous sources told Bloomberg none of these changes have been completed.